Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) spent 2025 proving it could lose a multibillion-dollar drug and still grow. Now it wants to show it can keep doing that for years.
On June 13, the company reported results from a late-stage trial of its blood-cancer drug TALVEY, and the data landed at one of the year’s biggest medical meetings.
Investors care for a simple reason:
J&J’s most important growth engine is multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells in bone marrow. The deeper that franchise runs, the easier it is to replace income loss as older drugs lose patent protection.
JNJ stock closed at $235.66 on June 15, down about 2% on the day but still near record territory after a strong year.
What J&J’s MonumenTAL-3 trial actually showed for TALVEY
The trial is called MonumenTAL-3, and it tested TALVEY, known generically as talquetamab, in patients whose myeloma had returned or stopped responding to earlier treatment.
J&J reported the results in a June 13 press release, with the full data published the same day in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Why these numbers matter to investors
TALVEY was paired with J&J’s older myeloma drug DARZALEX, with or without a third medicine, and the combination beat the current standard of care across the board.
MonumenTAL-3 results at two years
- Progression-free survival, meaning patients living without the cancer worsening, reached up to 81.3%, versus 51.2% for standard care, according to J&J
- Overall survival reached up to 89.2%, versus 79.1%
- The combination cut the risk of disease progression or death by up to 72%
The data was presented at the 2026 European Hematology Association Congress in Stockholm, where doctors called the regimen a potential new standard of care for earlier-stage relapsed patients, according to OncLive.
Why moving TALVEY to earlier patients expands J&J’s myeloma reach
TALVEY first won U.S. approval in August 2023, but only for patients who had already tried at least four prior treatments. That is a small, late-stage group.
MonumenTAL-3 tested the drug far earlier, in patients with just one prior line of therapy.
That matters because earlier-line use means a much larger pool of eligible patients and more years of treatment per patient.
J&J has already filed with U.S. and European regulators to expand the label.
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The drug also works differently from many rivals.
TALVEY hits a target called GPRC5D, while most competing therapies aim at a different target called BCMA. According to Oncology News Central, doctors at EHA noted that many patients relapse after BCMA drugs, so a separate target gives J&J a second shot at the same patients.
How TALVEY fits J&J’s plan to replace Stelara income
J&J lost U.S. patent protection on Stelara, its longtime immunology blockbuster, in 2025.
Biosimilar copies from Amgen, Teva and others flooded in, and Stelara sales fell 41% to $6.1 billion last year from $10.4 billion in 2024, FiercePharma reported.
That kind of drop usually drags a drugmaker’s whole top line down.
However, J&J avoided it by leaning on oncology, and its myeloma drugs did the heavy lifting.
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DARZALEX alone generated $14.4 billion in 2025, J&J’s single biggest seller.
The full myeloma franchise brought in roughly $4 billion in the first quarter of 2026.
CEO Joaquin Duato has set a target of $50 billion in oncology sales by 2030, a goal he has said rests largely on multiple myeloma.
That is why a TALVEY win counts.
The biggest risk to the myeloma story is heavy reliance on DARZALEX, which itself faces patent questions later this decade. A deep bench of newer drugs spreads that risk out.
What still needs to happen before TALVEY moves JNJ stock
Strong trial data is a starting point, but there’s still more that needs to go right.
Things that have to fall into place before TALVEY significantly influences J&J’s revenue include:
- Regulators in the U.S. and Europe need to approve the earlier-line use J&J has applied for
- Doctors need to adopt the regimen over options they already know
- The drug’s side effects have to stay manageable in real-world use
That last point matters.
TALVEY carries warnings for cytokine release syndrome, a strong immune reaction, plus oral and skin side effects and weight loss, according to its prescribing information.
The trial reported these were mostly low grade, but they influence whether doctors choose to adopt the drug.
There is also competition:
Rival drugmakers including Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Pfizer are crowding into oncology, and the myeloma space specifically.
What JNJ stock investors can take from this
For investors, the myeloma franchise that carried J&J through the Stelara cliff has room to keep growing, with TALVEY now able to reach more patients earlier in treatment.
Morgan Stanley recently argued J&J looks positioned to grow through Stelara’s decline rather than simply survive it, and data like this supports that view.
The stock still trades like a defensive blue chip, backed by 63 straight years of dividend increases and a yield around 2.3%.
The bull case is that steady oncology wins gradually turn it into a stock investors value as a grower, not just a safe place to hide.
That shift depends on J&J stacking up more breakthroughs like this one.
